April Fool Garden Photos

In anticipation of a day famous for pranks and spoofs, I offer a few garden photos that are not at first what they seem. Like this pagoda. What exactly are you looking at? If you guessed a reflection, you’re right. In fact, most of the photos below are reflections. I hope you’ll have fun with them and perhaps be fooled by a few.

Here’s the photo before I cropped it. You get bonus points if you can identify the location.

Do you see the reflection of the man? And the bird? OK, what animal is looking at YOU?

Actually, there are two.

And speaking of fish, this is a friend’s koi pond. Ever noticed that reflections on the surface of water are inverted (upside-down)?

This is the photo before I cropped it and flipped it 180 degrees.

I snapped this one summer at the Denver Botanical Gardens. I liked the photo so much, it went into Succulent Container Gardens.

Can you tell what kind of trees grow near this swimming pool?

That’s easy: palms.

OK, how about these?

Junipers.

Are you looking at sand, water, or shallow water over sand?

Pool water.

Another photo from Succulent Container Gardens. Can you tell what I was wearing that day? And here’s an even trickier question: What are the containers made of?

I was wearing a gold short-sleeved sweater and jeans. My husband, left, was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. The containers are cast concrete. (Photo taken at Molly Wood Design Studio, Costa Mesa, CA.)

Know what you’re looking at here?

If you said “Euphorbia ammak,” good for you. If you said, “Euphorbia ammak reflected in a window,” wow!

Award-winning garden photojournalist Debra Lee Baldwin authored the Timber Press bestsellers Designing with Succulents, Succulent Container Gardens, and Succulents Simplified. Debra is a regular contributor to Sunset and other publications, and her own half-acre garden near San Diego has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens. Debra specializes in showing how to use architectural, waterwise and easy-care succulents in a wide variety of appealing and creative applications. www.debraleebaldwin.com.

What a great post! I forget that it’s April Fool’s Day EVERY SINGLE YEAR which makes me a very easy target if you catch me early in the morning. But it’s fun to be fooled by your intriguing photo trickery.

Hi, Blue-eyed Susan — Hmm. Will have to remember that for next year. Mwah-ha-ha. — Debra